A new project, the abandoned xj650RJ

Yup, that's it. And look at that! It's got the standing handles, the right mufflers, etc....! Uh-oh--the seat tail has been replaced or repainted an ugly black.

Print off some picture of that, and post them on your wall. Tell yourself your's will look like that someday. Don't worry about when that day is.....it'll get there.

Dave Fox

 

I wish I could "save" it. I am also getting good at searching 8)

 

Funny, for a rare bike........let's see-- I found mine in November, acquired it in December. You found your's about the same time. Suddenly several more pop up on the list. Then, a few show up on Craigslist. Guess it's not as rare anymore. LOL

Kind of like when I got my 900. Shortly after finding mine, several others found one, or at least started posting about them. I took over the 900RK Database for USA-delivered bikes. There were about 8 or so numbers. Now I have close to 65 registered. 5 of those are mine, another 8 or so are 'ronnie' 's. so almost 25% of the registered bikes are owned by 2 xjbikes listmembers.

Ok, back to work.......................

Dave F

 

We think that things are rare until you really focus on finding them. I hope parts for our RJs are common at least until we are done putting them together. Then they can all go back to hibernate

 

So today it was rainy and I could not work outside, besides our little was was fuzzy all day and did not have a minute to spare. Here is the culprit of my project moving slowly:




I only had some time to polish one of the covers in the engine that is getting up to speed.



I am sure 2013 has great things in the works...

 

Cute little baby, I think the bike can sit for awhile. Kids grow up too fast savor every moment. I have a grandson and I love it when he comes over. Believe me the shop goes dark in a hurry when he is on his way over.

MN

 

....and the brakes so it doesn't just run well, it will stop well, too.

He's doing just what you said.....getting it to run well. He's doing the carbs, and the shims right now.

I'm doing the carbs, shims, brakes, tires, repairing/restifying the gauges, the wire harness, headlight, tires, side panels, and misc stuff. I'm not going to re-paint the tank right away, That will be later.

I have the luxury of being able to work on that over the winter, since I'm not going to be taking it out of the shop anytime soon----two and a half feet of snow on the ground between my shop and the road. So......little by little each day, and a lot of sled riding the 'ease the pain'.

Dave F

 

That's the plan, get the new engine on and running. Like Dave said I am getting shim valves done, and cabs cleaned. Once everything is on the frame I will get the brakes done. The goal is to get it running (properly), after that I will start working on the body (big dent on the gas tank, gauges, and all the other stuff.

I have had this bike for only one month and I have done some decent progress with my limited time. The biggest improvement I have done is my knowledge base, I have been looking at a couple of manuals, and reading a lot on this forum.

 

Manuals? We don't need no stinkin' manuals................

 

Hey Eco........

The YICS cover is incorrect for your bike. You should have PLAIN engine end covers.

That being said.....If you're going to restore that cover, do two things:

Sand it down farther to get rid the the remaining divots/dark spots; and second, Len now has replacement YICS badges. Pull the old one out, clean up the recess and attach the new one. That will make a world of difference. Then tag it, bag it, and save it for a rainy day.

Dave F

 

I do have the original motor with the plain engine covers. I may do that instead of working any harder on this one since I may not use it for a while. Like you said I may just bag it and save it for a better day.

 

So your replacement motor is a YICS motor?

 

I believe so.

 

You should be able to tell by the valve cover.

Unless it's from a Canadian 650R, it's a Maxim motor so you'll have to swap some shifter-side stuff over too.

On the upside, it should not have a mechanical tach drive (so your XJ700 instruments will be easier to fit.)

 

Bigfitz,

It does have the YICS cover and I remember when I took the old engine off the frame on the top part where the tach drive is (was, the engine came without cable) and the replacement YICS engine does not have such port.

I am glad somebody in Cows'n'Pigs'n'Chickens MICH knows what I have on my driveway

Thanks for pointing that out. the new engine came with the shifter so no need to swap stuff. It's good to know that the new gauges may work easier with this engine.

Whenever I have this motorcycle running I will try to figure out what was wrong with the second gear on the other engine.

Thanks a lot for the heads up

 

Yeah, I forgot you were swapping mills.

If you are going to go to the electronic tach, I'd actuallyrecommend that you get a 700 wiring harness, too. That way, you get all the connections for the gauges, the fuses are in the gauges and are blade fuses......so you elimeate the glass tube AND the fusebox under the seat. The lights can all be hooked up with what you have ........you have 700 gauges, 700 lights, etc........ everything would fall into place pretty easily. Basically, it would be a 700 desguised as a650 seca, with a regular 650 YICS engine..............

That's cool sort of sleeper......................

Dave F

 

Right.

Except the Seca has a "rearset" shift lever, operated by a linkage, and the Maxim motor does not.

So when transplaning a Maxim motor into a Seca, the LH shifter stuff will have to be swapped. Take a close look at both, you'll see what I mean.

 

If you're swapping the whole engine, I don't think it will matter if you swap the shifter or not. The shift pedal pad ends up about the same place, doesn't it? It does matter if you are swapping covers.............

I could be wrong............

Dave F

 

Here is what I found:

 

It matters.

Umm... not by about a size 37 shoe.

If you don't wanna go out in the cold, do a Google Image search on both bikes. Look at where the rider pegs are on a 650 Seca and where they are on a 650 Maxim.

Take a look at where the shift shaft comes out of the cover on a 650 Seca and then imagine a lever going FORWARD from there. (The actual shifter stub, not the pivot for the lever.)

A size 19 might be able to do it...

The mousetrap and all that should swap right over; the inner cases are the same.